I know that several of you, myself included, have been following along with a BR-based eNovel on fanfiction.net by the name of 72 Hours. For those of you who've never heard of it, but are curious, you can read it here. For those of you who have read it, discuss. ^.^ Who were your favorite and/or most hated characters? Favorite scenes? Favorite quotes? In retrospect, was it better or worse than the original Battle Royale? If you refer to a scene near the end of the novel, please set a spoiler tag in your reply so as not to ruin it for people who haven't gotten that far yet. Thanks.

Slayer - August 8, 2006 04:56 AM (GMT)

This post contains spoilers.

I think everyone would agree if I said I hated Joel most of all (though I admit "Joel" is a pretty cool sounding name. :P), not only because of his character, but because he was easily one of the worst characters of the bunch. He was the sterotypical "Italian punk" right down to a "T", and Marston didn't even try to give him any redeeming qualities (Spolier: Hell, towards the end he even gets downgraded to the "dumb brute" stereotype). It was good, way better than the original BR, though I feel that Marston gave away the ending unintentionally if you pay close enough attention to the first death (spoiler: Where it says Carter "Was the first to kill, but wouldn't be the last" and then he's in the final two.). For that matter, Ashley (Spoiler: The winner) was pretty weak herself. It really got worse as it went on, and I eventually lost the ability to care what happened to the characters.

Megami - August 8, 2006 05:43 PM (GMT)

As far as favorites go, I got really attached to Matt over the course of the series. Although it held true to the Takako/Hiroki/Kayoko love-triangle from the original BR, and I couldn't help but wonder what in the blue hell he saw in Lexie Hawk over Dora. Dora was alright, a bit of a Sue in that she was perfect at everything and (besides Lenore) was the only member of the Brat Pack who wasn't a gossipy twit with an attitude problem. Cheryl redeemed herself for me in the final moments before her death, though. Overall, the Brat Pack was probably my favorite group, just because they were one of the few real defined cliques. I agree with Slayer, Joel wasn't one of my favorites. Karen was great, though. Her death was like the ultimate what-the-fuck moment in the whole novel. Hm... I hated Damien at first, I thought he was just another Kiriyama rip-off. Toward the end, though, I found myself respecting the character a lot more, if not feeling sorry for him.

laZardo - August 9, 2006 02:32 PM (GMT)

After finally getting my hand to click this link and skim through most of it, I'd like to say at this point that the characters of my creation are purely of my own imagination and personal life experience. Any similarity between my characters, from their names down to their appearances and plans for their "future" (spoiler hint?!), and their 72H counterparts are purely coincidential (at this point in time at least).

Seriously~ :(

Theseus - August 9, 2006 03:22 PM (GMT)

This post contains spoilers

Oh 72 hours, how I loved that book to death. I wish it could get published. I bothered my mom and all my friends talking about it non-stop. It took me a while to read it all, but I got through it. I personally think it's better than Battle Royale but mainly because I can relate a lot better to 72 hours. I mean, Battle Royale took place in Japan, with kids who you didn't feel any connection to. 72 hours on the other hand took place right here in America, and the characters in the book you could relate to, maybe seeing yourself in a couple of them.

I loved so much about it, but the foreshadowing was definately one of my favorite parts. Like when the supplies were dropped at Marie's airfield and the novel said something like, "This incident would change the course of the game, because the supplies weren't dropped at any airfield, but Marie's airfield."

Also when most of the SABRE team went out to the airfield it said, "most of them wouldn't return." or something like that. Or definately when SABRE first formed it said, "most of them would be dead in 48 hours."

I also loved the whole escape plot. When SABRE finally got into action and got their belts off and were sailing away on the boat I knew they wouldn't make it, but I was cheering for them, hoping somehow they would. But then Katie and Joel had to ruin the fun.

There is so much to point out actually. Damien, I don't think I really enjoyed reading him too much. I mean I loved his flashbacks towards the end of the novel. They were really sad, but I just didn't like him personally. He was too, animal like I guess. You have to admit though, he was one heck of a fighter.

Then there is Marie who I liked a lot. She was definately dominating the game. Matt was really cool, and I really liked his blackbacks. Like how he first met Lexie Hawk. Then of course Ashley. She was awesome and one tough girl. The fight between her and that one guy at the begining was awesome. So many characters I loved, Doug, the brat pack, so many...can't name them all...must stop typing.....

Megami - August 9, 2006 08:42 PM (GMT)

To LaZardo: Omigod, when I first saw your Damien character and read over his bio, I couldn't help but notice the uncanny resemblance to a certain 72 Hours character of the same name. XD I never got the feeling that you were trying to rip of Myers though. Carter-Madison just happens to have some similarities. Really, though, all characters are similar in some way. I caught several similarities in the 72 Hours kids to the BR kids. The Matt/Lexie/Dora thing is obviously a reference to Hiroki/Kayoko/Takako. To me, at least, Carter was Shuya and Katherine Noriko. Anna, in quite a change of pace, was very similar to Mimura, though Doug shared in some of his traits as well. Marie reminded me a lot of Kiriyama (and shared a lot of the same characteristics as our own Clemence Ceillet de Rousseau, come to think of it). Lindsey/Rudy reminded me of Sakura/Kazuhiko. Just so, so many comparisons.

As for Damien...

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU DON'T WANT THE LATER STAGES OF THE GAME RUINED FOR YOU!

THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING! TURN BACK NOW, OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE!

Mmkay. Here's what I got from the end of Damien's story, and I could have completely misinterpreted it, but this is how I took it. He reminded me a *lot* of a Kiriyama ripoff until we established that he suffers from schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder or something of that nature. The more "the Demon" was established, the more he formed into his own unique character. I was almost surprised that 72 Hours didn't have a lucky ducky character (i.e. Kawada) who had already been through a program, but apparently, I was very, very wrong. I didn't completely realize what had happened until the very end of the story. Here's what I don't understand: it's stated numerous times that the first two Battle Royale programs in the United States were failures. According to the text, the Texas students chosen to participate were all executed after the 24 hour time limit expired without a kill. It states there was no winner to the other program... so all I can figure is that Damien survived... barely... and they didn't think he would live because he was injured so badly. Anyone else have any further insight on this?

By the way, the set-up of the Brat Pack was sheer genius on this part. I pointed this out to someone else and they totally overlooked it, but remember during (I think it's) Damien's final flashback when it talks about how he received those special free tickets for the Grad Night trip in the mail? Remember how Lenore (the girl he was in love with) conveniently missed Grad Night because she had a date? Remember how at the very beginning of the story, it's mentioned that the Brat Pack had lucked out and gotten their tickets to Grad Night for free? Damien used those tickets to ensure that the Brat Pack would be on that bus. So... does that mean he also knew that Braiwood High School would be subjected to this year's program? I like to think he did, it makes the plot all the more sinister. Whether he really did or not is up for debation, but he went through an awful lot of trouble to make sure that the girls who tormented him through high school were on that bus, don't you think?

Purely speculation on my part, of course, but it was stuff like that... stuff you had to read between the lines to get... that made Damien Myers a very interesting requisite villain... even if he was a bit over-romanticized. I fail to see how a one-armed kid can fight like Neo in the Matrix. XD

d0ddi0slave - August 9, 2006 10:37 PM (GMT)

I cheered for Paul.

Slayer - August 9, 2006 11:24 PM (GMT)

QUOTE (Megami @ Aug 9 2006, 08:42 PM)

To LaZardo: Omigod, when I first saw your Damien character and read over his bio, I couldn't help but notice the uncanny resemblance to a certain 72 Hours character of the same name. XD I never got the feeling that you were trying to rip of Myers though. Carter-Madison just happens to have some similarities. Really, though, all characters are similar in some way. I caught several similarities in the 72 Hours kids to the BR kids. The Matt/Lexie/Dora thing is obviously a reference to Hiroki/Kayoko/Takako. To me, at least, Carter was Shuya and Katherine Noriko. Anna, in quite a change of pace, was very similar to Mimura, though Doug shared in some of his traits as well. Marie reminded me a lot of Kiriyama (and shared a lot of the same characteristics as our own Clemence Ceillet de Rousseau, come to think of it). Lindsey/Rudy reminded me of Sakura/Kazuhiko. Just so, so many comparisons.

As for Damien...

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!

DO NOT PROCEED IF YOU DON'T WANT THE LATER STAGES OF THE GAME RUINED FOR YOU!

THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING! TURN BACK NOW, OR FOREVER HOLD YOUR PEACE!

Mmkay. Here's what I got from the end of Damien's story, and I could have completely misinterpreted it, but this is how I took it. He reminded me a *lot* of a Kiriyama ripoff until we established that he suffers from schizophrenia or multiple personality disorder or something of that nature. The more "the Demon" was established, the more he formed into his own unique character. I was almost surprised that 72 Hours didn't have a lucky ducky character (i.e. Kawada) who had already been through a program, but apparently, I was very, very wrong. I didn't completely realize what had happened until the very end of the story. Here's what I don't understand: it's stated numerous times that the first two Battle Royale programs in the United States were failures. According to the text, the Texas students chosen to participate were all executed after the 24 hour time limit expired without a kill. It states there was no winner to the other program... so all I can figure is that Damien survived... barely... and they didn't think he would live because he was injured so badly. Anyone else have any further insight on this?

By the way, the set-up of the Brat Pack was sheer genius on this part. I pointed this out to someone else and they totally overlooked it, but remember during (I think it's) Damien's final flashback when it talks about how he received those special free tickets for the Grad Night trip in the mail? Remember how Lenore (the girl he was in love with) conveniently missed Grad Night because she had a date? Remember how at the very beginning of the story, it's mentioned that the Brat Pack had lucked out and gotten their tickets to Grad Night for free? Damien used those tickets to ensure that the Brat Pack would be on that bus. So... does that mean he also knew that Braiwood High School would be subjected to this year's program? I like to think he did, it makes the plot all the more sinister. Whether he really did or not is up for debation, but he went through an awful lot of trouble to make sure that the girls who tormented him through high school were on that bus, don't you think?

Purely speculation on my part, of course, but it was stuff like that... stuff you had to read between the lines to get... that made Damien Myers a very interesting requisite villain... even if he was a bit over-romanticized. I fail to see how a one-armed kid can fight like Neo in the Matrix. XD

Spoilers. If you have not read 72 Hours/not finished reading it, stop reading this fierfeking post and do it! :P

If I recall (been a while, so I'm rusty), he survived the grenade and was able to stab the other final contestant (in his original BR) to death with a shrapnel fragment, but was seriously hurt. While he was recovering/after he did so the government put him under some form of suggestion so he thought he was a completely different person who had gotten into a car crash. Apparently he and his family managed to retain some form of connections to the government after he won (or one of his relatives worked for the government, can't remember), so he knew about the BR in Braiwood's future or used those connections to make sure that bus was chosen and that the Brat Pack (who were really just cardboard cutout "heartless bitch" stereotypes with a bit of rose tinting added to one or two in my opinion. Like Joel-Lite) was on it.